


It started off with a bang

by urisarang



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 13:47:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15752949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/urisarang/pseuds/urisarang
Summary: Tony is bored out of his mind at a tech company shindig when a terrorist crashes the party and someone gets gravely injured on Iron Man's watch.





	It started off with a bang

Tony is doing yet another meet and greet with prospective tech companies all looking for a piece of Stark Industries. Pepper is away putting out a fire (one he had nothing to do with this time scouts honor) and so he is forced to once again take up the reigns of being the face for his-no her company now. He doesn't miss it at all.

Don't get him wrong, its nice to be in a room of intelligent individuals, but he'd much rather be in his work shop designing and improving gear for his team. He's been spending a lot of time designing ultra tiny parachutes to fit in Cap's and Hawkguy's suits since they are so fond of jumping off of tall buildings, but both of them have been off doing god knows what with shield for the last few weeks so he hasn't gotten the chance to test out the prototypes on his far too willing guinea pigs yet.

He smiles and nods at another business man politely before stepping out of the circle to go mingle with another group he hasn't hit yet. As soon as he finishes the rounds Pepper promised him he could go home, but no skipping out early. That woman would know with her scary CEO powers. Terrifying and beautiful as always despite their separation Tony thinks of her fondly and goes out of his way to be less disappointing to her now.

He's making his way to another group when a commotion steals his attention. He turns to see a well dressed man with a half circle of people cowering away from him. The man has pulled out an assault rifle and has it trained of a pretty daughter of one of the business execs a mere foot in front of him. 

Shit. Tony thinks, he only brought the watch repulsor to this, he never leaves home without some form of protection since the Mandarin. He hits the beacon to call the suit to him, but it will take at least a minute he might not have to get here. His mind races as he pulls the repulsor over into his palm discretely and moves his way up through the crowd of people that are backing away. He notes in the back of his head he isn't the only one moving towards the armed gunman instead of away. Well paid body guard no doubt.

The man yells something in a language Tony doesn't recognize from behind his human shield and then the tale tale sound of a pin dropping hits Tony's ears through the chaos. The man hurls the grenade towards the crowd, time slows as Tony watches it arch towards them knowing without Jarvis's targeting there is no way he can blast it away. 

The man who had been going towards the commotion suddenly leaps into Tony's vision and CATCHES, actually catches the grenade! A deep baritone yells out to get down as he falls to the ground wrapping his body around the grenade in attempt to absorb the blast. Tony tears his eyes away from the brave man and aims the repulsor at the man using the distraction to take his shot hitting him dead between the eyes and knocking him out cold.

Before the unknown gunman's body has the time to hit the ground the grenade goes off with a thundering blast of sound. The force of the explosion shakes the room and deafens his ears. Tony stumbles back a step catching his footing then rushing towards the smoke filled explosion center. 

The smell of smoke and charred flesh burns his nose as he waves his arms trying to clear the smoke to see what is left of the brave man who saved them all. He can make out the ruined and still smoking back of the suit and dirty blond hair. Tentatively Tony reaches out and gently tugs on the broad shoulder to roll the man over. 

"No." His heart stops dead in his chest. "No, no that's not possible." It's Steve's burned and bloody face that he sees when he turns the man over. It can't be Steve, he's not even supposed to be in the country. Tony's hands shake too much as he tries to feel for a pulse. 

"Don't you dare be dead you crazy son of a bitch!" Tony yells at Steve's still form. He leans down and pulls Steve's face towards his own and leans his head against the other man's forehead willing him to be alive with sheer force of will. He jerks when he feels a hand cover his own and opens his eyes to see unfocused ocean blue eyes struggling to focus on the face in front of his.

"Steve." Tony lets his name out in a rush of breath pulling back so the other man can focus on him. The hand weakly squeezes his own in recognition and a pained grunt escape his blood stained lips. Those beautiful eyes focus for a moment before the fight seems to leave the other man with the next exhale and his eyes slide away from Tony's face and close.

"Stay with me! No, no no!" Tony calls out but Steve's hand falls away limp from his own and his eyes close once more. A moment or five later his suit bursts through the glass. Tony reluctantly pulls away from Steve to allow the suit to conform to him and the second it does he lifts Steve's limp body into his arms. 

The suit feeds him Steve's faltering vitals and impressive damage report. He still has time, he can jet them to the nearest hospital within 30 seconds, Steve can hold out until then. He will, Tony will make sure of it. He barely glances at the downed gunman, Jarvis informs him that the man is unconscious but not dead. Pity. He has Jarvis inform PD then banishes the man from his mind.

The crowd watches him fly Steve out of the building in utter silence but Tony can't see anything past the flashing red warnings on his display monitoring Steve. The flight takes only 30 seconds but it feels like an eternity. Tony feels as if he's fleeing with Death hot on his heels, every moment bring it closer than before.

Tony has frequently dropped off civilians to hospitals all around New York and so there is little surprise when the Iron Man suit lands on the helicopter pad. EMTs rush out with a cart no doubt hastily acquired with the short warning they had received from Jarvis during the flight. 

Tony has Jarvis give them all the vital information as he focuses his attention onto gently, but quickly lowering Steve down onto the gurney. Once the blond man is out of his arms Tony feels cold radiate outwards from his heart. It's out of his hands now, there is nothing more he can do. 

"Save him, please you have to save him." His voice chokes even through the suit's filters. One of the medical professionals stays back with Tony as the rest rush off into the hospital shouting information at one another. Tony pulls the helmet off and it slips unnoticed from his fingers and looks to where Steve disappeared into the building. 

The man who stayed back is speaking to him but Tony can't understand a word. He's going to panic, he knows it, but not until after and he still has something to do. Without a word of goodbye he blasts back towards the party leaving his helmet laying on the roof top of the hospital where he had dropped it.

He is laser focused and blasts back through the window to find the gunman still down. He stares at the man with deadly intent for long seconds. If Steve. . .well let's just say for his sake he better make it. The crowd rears back at the murderous look in Tony Stark's normally laid back eyes. It's unsettling.

Without a word he picks up the man and throws him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry none too gently. He then rockets back away heading towards the nearest shield facility. Rage fills him the closer he gets, this has the stink of shield all over it. Why would someone attack that party with Captain America just happening to show up to unannounced. 

Fury is standing outside with his trench coat billowing in the wind clearly not surprised in the least to see Iron Man on his door step with an unconscious terrorist.

"I think this trash is yours." Tony says still hovering a few feet off the ground as he drops the gunman on the ground with a thud. Fury's one eye looks down at the limp body at his feet then back up to Stark unrepentant as ever.

"Ain't one of ours, just some bad luck, or you could say really good luck since you aren't one of the casualties." Tony's teeth clank together as he clenches his jaw.

"There won't be any." Fury nods to that, asshole pirate or not Captain America is one of his favorites. Whether or not he's telling the truth remains to be seen, but it's doubtful he'd send an agent in without armor or back up so Tony lets it go for now.

"We'll continue this discussion later." Tony promises and jets back off to the hospital using extra force making sure that Fury get's pelted with dust. 

He lands back on the hospital roof and notices his helmet lying on the ground for the first time, he hadn't realized it had slipped from his fingers. He bends down and picks it up. He stares at his haunted face reflecting back at him off the shinny red metal. He absently runs a gloved hand over the plate a few times before pulling himself together enough to walk into the hospital.

The same man he had left on the roof is waiting just inside for him and leads him without a word to a waiting room. He is handed a cup of bitter black hospital coffee and left alone. Tony sits down heavily on a bench cradling the steaming beverage between his legs with his head bowed staring into its black abyss.

He's never been a patient man, absolutely terrible at waiting. His mind is always going at speeds that outmatch everyone around him save for Bruce so the silence is a torture for him. He is alone with his slowly spiraling thoughts as he imagines how this is play out in worse and worse scenarios.

He waits there for an hour alone with only his cold, untouched coffee and thoughts to keep him company before the door opens. He stands so fast he forgets to hold onto the coffee sending it spilling down on the floor. In walks Natasha with a serious face.

"Fury called me." She accuses. "Would have rather heard it from you, but I guess I can't blame you." Tony blinks, right. Shit he should have told the team, of course they'd want to know about their leader. The heart of the team, but Tony selfishly only thought of himself.

"He's still in surgery, but they say it's looking good. They got out most of the shrapnel, ran into a bit of a problem with Steve's enhanced healing making it more difficult to get out the smaller pieces but they think he's out of the woods." Natasha relays to him without a some much of a quiver of emotion touching her words. 

Tony is jealous of her control. Once he had foolishly pegged her for an Ice Queen, but he knows how deeply she cares for Steve. They act like siblings with one another, something tabloids had often mistaken for as romance. It's well known on the team that she only has eyes for Hawkguy, bu that is neither here nor there.

"Thank god." Tony breaths out letting out the breath he had been holding onto since the door swung open. Natasha cocks her head at him no doubt doing the widow thing and analyzing every little tick of his movement to read him like an open book.

"How about you get out of the suit and stand down?" She suggests in a way that is more of an order, but one Tony has no compulsion to fight. 

Once he steps out of the suit Natasha is at his side to catch him as he sways. He didn't realize how much the suit was the one holding him up this whole time. He leans into Natasha grateful for her intuition and thoughtfulness. It had taken time for him to forgive her for the whole double agent neck stabbing thing, but now he counts her among his favorites.

"Now let's take a seat and relax." She guides him back onto the bench and pulls his head down onto her shoulder. He wants to fight it, his body is still so tense but she doesn't make it an option. She wraps one arm around his shoulder holding him loosely and with the other begins running her fingers through his hair. 

The tension bleeds out of him and she works her magic. He'll insist it has to be magic later with how well it works. She begins singing softly in Russian staving off his impending panic attack like the pro that she is. 

They sit like that together for long minutes until the light tremor in Tony's hands goes away and his thoughts escape from the downward spiral of despair and worry. He pulls himself up out of her arms and murmurs a quiet thanks that she acknowledges with a tilt of her head. 

She leaves him with a promise to harass the staff for updates and return. He nods absently and watches her leave the room in complete silence like the ninja he knows she is.

The hours pass highlighted by her checking up on him and giving updates, she lets him know that the other Avengers are aware of the situation and will be arriving to offer support when they are able. Tony nods in thanks that she stepped up to take the slack that he left as a shitty co-leader. 

Another 10 minutes pass when she arrives with the company of a doctor this time who brings news that the surgery went well and Steve is in recovery now. Tony blows out a huge breath in relief and thanks the doctor.

"He has you listed as next of kin Mr. Stark so as soon as he's settled into his room you can visit him." Tony blinks in shock at that, he had no idea that Steve had done that. 

"Really me? You're sure its not Tasha here?" Tony asks in surprise, perhaps he was listed because of his unlimited funds? Yeah that's most likely. Sure they have grown close as co-leaders of the most bad ass super hero group around, but he never thought that Steve would trust him with his life outside of avenging.

"No, I am quite certain Mr. Stark." 

"Okay. Good." Natasha gives him a considering look with a small smile that says she knows something he doesn't, which isn't uncommon. He maybe-no definitely- is the genius in the room but that woman seems to know everything. 

The doctor leaves and Natasha follows him out of the room before she can be questioned. Tony pulls out his Stark phone and sketches out some designs for making Steve's suit more explodey resistant while he waits very impatiently for the doctor's return. Tony hates being caught with his pants down, and this one was bad. 

He was raised on stories of the great Captain America jumping on a grenade when he was still a pip squeak, but you'd think he'd have learned his lesson. Damn heroes and their self-sacrificing nature making Tony's life harder having to out do himself with designs on their gear for all the crazy stunts they end up pulling. He is being a big, fat hypocrite and he knows it but doesn't care. 

His doodling on his phone makes the time fly and before he knows it the door is reopening. He slides the phone away in his pocket and stands all in one motion. 

"He's ready now if you'll just follow me." The doctor says turning around. Tony casts a look back at his suit sitting on the bench in compact form but Natasha is three steps ahead like always and is already moving to take it with her.

"You're the best." Tony tells her over his shoulder as he follows the doctor out of the room. 

"I know." She answers him as he leaves the room.

Tony taps out beats against his leg as he follows the doctor who is walking at a far too leisurely pace for his liking. He wants to, needs to see Steve now, but the doctor is ignorant to the silent mental pleading from the billionaire. 

Finally. Finally they arrive at Steve's room and the doctor opens the door for Tony who pauses to take a deep breath before entering. There he is lying still in the big hospital bed making it seem small with his large frame. Tony walks closer eyes flicking around to take in all the visible injuries. 

Steve has an oxygen mask on his bruised and bandaged face, but Tony can see that the horrific burns have already begun to look much better after just a few hours of the serum's work. There is an IV in his arm and his chest is wrapped all over in white bandages. His eyes flick to the monitor and sees that his vitals are looking really good for someone just out of surgery.

"He's resting now, but I expect with his. . .unique physiology he will wake up within a few hours." The doctor's voice makes Tony twitch, he had deleted the other man from his brain the second he walked into the room he was so focused on Steve. "You're welcome to take a seat and wait." The doctor gestures to the chair beside Steve's bed. "We will come in frequently to check on him, but everything is looking really good."

"Yeah, okay. Thank you, really thank you." Tony thanks the doctor shaking his hand before the man leaves shutting the door behind him.

Tony walks over to the bed and stands over Steve, who looks so fragile wrapped up in white. He reaches out his hand wanting to touch Steve but pulls his hand back not wanting to hurt him in his sleep with all his injuries. 

"You're a damned fool." Tony whispers to the unconscious man before all but falling into the chair next to the bed. He pulls his hands back away and folds them in front of his face as he watches the slow and steady rise and fall of Steve's chest as he breathes and thinks about the other man.

Despite their rocky start once they got passed all the shit that came out under the scepter's influence they hit it off pretty well. Steve has a wicked dry humor that Tony absolutely adores and tough skin for all of Tony's teasing. Tony has had very few true friends in his rock star life, money opens many doors but makes finding real friends extremely difficult. Everyone wants a piece of the great Tony Stark, but very few care to get to know the man behind the fame and the legacy.

Steve, once he learned to not bring up Tony's father, always made extra effort to get to know the Avenger's benefactor. Their friendship slowly grew from mutual teasing and binge watching scifi and it has been growing stronger by the day to the point that Tony was ready to add Steve into the extremely exclusive club with Pepper and Rhodey. 

The man out of time struggled with making connections to this new world that grew up without him for a time, but friends were something he was naturally good at making. Everyone loved Steve, and for good reason. They don't make guys like him anymore, so genuine and caring. 

The glaring fact that Steve had added *him* to his medical forms changes things. 

Tony had mistakenly believed that Steve wouldn't value their friendship as much as he did simply for the fact that he had so many other friends, but he was wrong. Maybe the man out of time needed a friend not afraid to be real with him as much as Tony did. It must be lonely without any connections from his past to keep him grounded. The fact that he chose Tony above all others has him sending a silent thanks up to his pops for the little connection to his past that he can give Steve.

Time passes before the first nurse comes in to check Steve's vitals, she tells him that Steve is doing well and no longer needs the oxygen mask. Tony bites his cheek to keep from tell her to be more gentle when she slides the mask off of Steve's face, he knows he's being unreasonable and for once in his life refrains from being an ass about it.

She leaves shutting the door quietly behind her and leaves Tony to study the sleeping face he can see more of now. Steve looks so peaceful, if it weren't for the setting one could almost mistake him for just napping. Its not often that Tony gets the chance to observe Steve when he's asleep.

There have been two times Steve has fallen asleep around Tony during their late night binges. Both times it surprised Tony to see the man's features completely relaxed as they are now. Captain America has always been larger than life and matured from growing up in a war, it was so easy to forget how young the man really is.

He's only 27 but more mature than Tony's 40, a curse of his time. Tony's heart clenches as he looks at the young man who almost lost his life today. Steve had grown up during the great depression as a sickly boy, then thrust into a war that took away his future. Once he had awakened to a new world, he barely took a breath before marching back out to the front lines.

Tony scrubs a hand across his face, its just so unfair that someone like Steve has hardly had the time to actually live life. Always too busy for the dates Tasha tries setting him up on, its a damn shame is what that is. Tony had decades of playing the field, partying and experiencing everything the world has to offer. He silently vows to join Tasha in the quest to get Steve a life outside of avenging and putting out fires for Shield. 

He knows the other man will brush off their attempts by saying he's fine, but he hasn't ever even had the chance at a normal life so what does he know? Tony knows how persuasive he can be, its easy to get caught up in his tidal wave and be dragged along. He plans to make use of that to oh so subtly get Steve out there. 

The nurse comes and goes two more times while Tony sits there before he caves and grabs a hold of the sleeping man's hand. The nurse doesn't comment on it when she comes by the third time for which Tony is grateful. Tony runs his fingers along Steve's deceptively smooth hands. The serum prevents him from developing the callouses he should have from throwing the shield around.

An hour passes and with it Tony's eyes begin to droop so he says fuck it and leans his head down on the bed next to where he holds onto Steve's hand within his own and rests his eyes. He swears he only closed them for a minute or two but when he blinks them back open he can see that the sun has gone down from the orange tinted light cast from the window. 

He looks back over to Steve and is surprised to see blue eyes open and watching him. He blinks a few times then sits up as Steve gives him a weak smile. 

"Steve." He gasps out voice raspy from disuse and the short nap. Steve licks his lips and coughs when he tries to speak. "Here." Tony spins around and makes grabby hands at the cup of water left out for him that he left untouched during his nap. He brings the cup up to Steve's lips and gently tilts it so the other man can drink. A few drops dribble down Steve's chin when Tony pulls the cup away when Steve stops drinking.

Without thinking he wipes away the drops with his hand brushing the other man's lips. Steve swallows and raises his hand to weakly grasp Tony's wrist as Tony tries to snatch his hand away.

"Thanks." His voice comes out rough and dry despite the water. He clears his throat and squeezes Tony's wrist lightly before letting his hand fall back down onto the sheets. Tony sets the cup back down then turns back giving Steve a look full of anger stemming from the fear of almost losing the man.

"What were you thinking?!" He demands loudly. "Why on Earth would you jump on ANOTHER grenade? You had to know that one wasn't going to be a dummy!" Steve shrugs unrepentant. 

"All those people would have died Tony. You would have died." 

"Yeah well, why the hell weren't you wearing your armor? The armor I made for you?! If you were on a damn mission following some terrorist its common sense to be prepared!" Steve's eyebrows draw together in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Tony leans back crossing his arms over his chest.

"So what, you expect me to believe that you, you just showed up to a party after a long mission for Shield that just randomly was targeted by a terrorist?"

"Yeah I do, cause that's what happened." Steve says evenly, he's always been a god awful liar despite Tasha's coaching, so Tony is forced to have to believe him.

"Well what the hell were doing there anyway? I didn't think tech company parties were your shtick." Tony questions making the younger man squirm in the bed. Steve breaks eye contact looking to the side as a tint of pink colors his cheeks.

"Well, honestly. . ." Steve takes a deep breath rolling his shoulders with a grimace as if he's about to face off against an opponent. "The mission, it went sideways, it a real bad way. We lost a good agent, it made me reevaluate my priorities." Steve raises his eyes back to Tony's.

"It made me think about a lot of things, but mostly you." Tony's eyebrows raise at that in confusion. "Well, ahem, I uh. . .I uh came to the party for you."

"For me." Tony prompts with his voice flat to not betray any emotion. Steve licks his lips before he continues.

"Well this sure isn't how I imagined doing this, but uh. Yeah I came to see if I could steal you away from the party, I know how much you hate those, and to uh," Steve's cheeks are now bright red under Tony's keen scrutiny. "I wanted to, want to. Ask you if you wanted to step out with me."

"Step out. With me." Tony repeats dumbly pointing at his chest. Steve ducks his head close to his chest in embarrassment.

"Ya, wanted to ask you out. On a date. With me." Once its out of his lips Steve's expression hardens as if facing a firing squad.

Tony's brain goes full stop. He gapes at the younger man in the bed for 2.5 seconds like a fish before snapping his mouth shut with a click.

"You've got to be kidding me. No, no of course you aren't. You're serious. God Steve only you could go to ask someone out and end up getting exploded. You," Tony points his finger at Steve's chest, "are cursed. Only Steve Rogers could have that kind of luck when it comes to that."

"Well at least this time I only lost a few hours right?" Steve shrugs his shoulder awkwardly.

"5 hours 37 minutes." Tony supplies on automatic with his internal clock. "Okay. Right. You and me? Really? Going to break the 90 year streak with me?"

"I'd hoped to." Steve answers without hesitation, certainty in his choice rings through in his voice. Tony taps his fingers against his leg as he processes the fact that a childhood fantasy is being offered up right before his eyes.

"Okay one? You're officially banned from ever asking anyone out again. Two. Would you like to step out with me? You know once you are cleared for stepping again of course. Well, you could convince me to have a date in a hospital but I'll have to fly in my own food. Hospital food always tastes funny." 

A soft smile overtakes Steve's face at the rambling answer from Tony who smiles back dumbly retaking Steve's hand within his own.

"I can wait." Steve answers running his fingers along Tony's within his own hand tracing tiny scars that crisscross the engineer's hands. "I waited 90 years, whats a few more hours?"

**Author's Note:**

> Taking a break from my super long samifer story to write some shorter stories from other fandoms to keep my brain from melting. 
> 
> This idea randomly attacked me when I was trying sleep last night so out it goes!


End file.
